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| the life and times of David Serjeant |
| Here's a story that my Mum liked to tell.
Mum was born and bred in North East Derbyshire and spent her brief teaching career at Parkhouse Primary School in Pilsley as the reception teacher. Her former pupils will be approaching their sixties at the time of writing (2008). North East Derbyshire is a semi rural ex-mining community, and while I wouldn't describe it as rough by any stretch of the imagination, the pit villages are still very working class and can be quite insular. My Mum used to claim that this was an actual anecdote related to her by a school secretary and not urban legend. I'm not so sure, but I hope she was right. An Oxbridge graduate had a job interview at a remote primary school in a North Derbyshire pit village. Having been given directions and a map scrawled on a rough piece of paper it took him a while to find the venue but he still managed to turn up on time. The Headmaster was late, however, and in his nervous state the interviewee screwed the directions up. When the Head finally arrived, the graduate was awkwardly aware that while one hand was being crushed in his manly grip, the other hand was clutching a tatty scrap of paper. Nervously he asked "Where's the bin?" To which the Head boomed "Bin for a shite, but it's nowt to do wi' thee!" I love this story as my Mum used to thrill at the prospect of apparent superiority being taken down a peg or two. She was also staunchly proud of her Derbyshire roots. |
| a story my mum used to tell >> |